General Discussion

Russia’s ‘Pearl Harbor’ How pro-war Telegram channels are reacting to Ukraine’s drone attack on Russian air bases

Over the weekend, Ukraine’s Security Service conducted a massive, sophisticated drone attack targeting airfields in five regions of Russia. According to the agency, “Operation Spiderweb” destroyed 41 aircraft (though these numbers haven’t been independently confirmed). Russia’s pro-war commentators on Telegram were universally unhappy about the attack but divided over what it means and who’s to blame. Meduza shares a selection of opinions from some of Telegram’s more odious corners.

On whether this was ‘Russia’s Pearl Harbor’

Z-blogger Roman Alekhin

This is Russia’s Pearl Harbor. Let’s hope the response is the same as America’s response to the attack on Pearl Harbor — or even tougher.

Oleg Tsaryov, former Donbas separatist leader (wanted in Ukraine)

For some reason, a lot of people think we’re bound to hit back hard now — after all, our strategic aviation has taken a serious blow. They say this is our Russian “Pearl Harbor,” and that we’ll respond just as forcefully as the U.S. did back then.

But I don’t see it that way. Our Black Sea Fleet has already suffered massive damage — it doesn’t get much worse than that. And what happened then? Did we strike back then?

Yevgeny Popov, State Duma deputy and TV propagandist

“Pearl Harbor” — what are you talking about? Calm down. From the video, it looks like three or four aircraft. It’s not even clear how many were operational and how many were decoys. Yes, it’s a lot. Yes, it’s unpleasant. Yes, those responsible should be held accountable. But this isn’t Pearl Harbor. We should respond by giving the enemy their own Pearl Harbor.

Platon Mamatov, Russian soldier and blogger

Forget about the strategic missile carriers. We’ll win the war anyway. But how are we and our colleagues supposed to keep transporting drones by car? Before, we’d spend hours explaining things to the police or military police. Now? I don’t even want to think about it. Sure, we’ll get the drones to the mission. But getting them to a repair shop or training ground… no idea.